These Wounds
by Sebe
Summary: Damon chooses to save his friends in a truly selfless act. Now his friends have to save him and hope they're not too late. Much hurt!broken!Damon and some Alaric/Damon hints of slash, but nothing anywhere near graphic.
1. Chapter 1

A/N: My first, and most likely only foray into the Vampire Diaries world since this world is diametrically opposed to my real love of the Winchester brothers, but the Salvatores are cute too. I like Damon. In fact, I only watch the scenes he's in. And if Alaric's with him, all the better. ^_^

Admittedly, I only just got into this show over the break, but I haven't found any stories where someone takes care of Damon. I feel bad for the poor thing. He just wants to be loved. Apologies if the characters aren't spot on, but I've only seen a few episodes.

Also, if anyone knows where I can find some hurt/sick/insane/etc…Damon, please don't hesitate to let me know.

Anyway, I do hope you enjoy the fic. Much hurt!Damoness ahead as well as caring!Alaric with some added worried Elena and Stefan on the fringe.

Summary: Damon chooses to save his friends in a truly selfless act. Now his friends have to save him and hope they're not too late. Much hurt!broken!Damon and some Alaric/Damon slash, but nothing anywhere near graphic.

**These Wounds**

The heavy door gave under one last kick. Allowing himself a moment of smug pride, Alaric quickly descended the stairs into the basement, no need to be quiet since everything in the house knew they were there already. He hadn't even reached the bottom when he spotted what they'd come for.

"Damon?"

The teacher's voice was tight and breathy. Damon's arms were tied above his head, hanging from the ceiling. Blood covered the room's walls in inelegant splotches showing directionality, where the blows had come from and how hard and Alaric was never watching CSI again because he didn't want to know that. Red dripped steadily from the vampire, a pool around his dangling feet.

Alaric didn't waste any more breath calling out. It was clear that Damon was either unconscious or just unresponsive. Trying not to think of the reasons for that, Alaric ran to Damon's side and quickly began working on the manacles binding the vampire's wrists above his head. He was careful to control his movements, lest he be teased for the rest of his life for worrying about a badass vampire like Damon Salvatore in the first place.

Getting one wrist free, Alaric grew even more concerned as the other man didn't make a sound. His shoulder joints had to be dislocated. Letting one drop like that should have been excruciating, even for Damon.

"You could help me out a little here, ya know." Alaric kept up the dialogue in the absence of Damon's voice. Normally, he could hardly get a word in, the dead space filled up with snark and stories, once or twice even with real emotion.

Alaric wrapped an arm around Damon's waist as he undid the other cuff clumsily with one hand. It was more awkward, but Damon wasn't supporting himself and Alaric found himself unable to just let him fall.

"Who knew you could be chivalrous enough to save someone with no benefit for yourself." Alaric smirked nervously. "Let alone get yourself caught, huh Damon?"

Finally freed, Alaric eased Damon to the ground, laying him flat on his back. He winced, knowing the wounds on his back were bad, had to be painful, but all of him was hurt, cut up, and he had to lie somehow. Alaric took a moment to listen to the sounds of the fight in the other room. It sounded like a bloodbath and their side was coming out on top. Elena was a force unto her own when something she loved was threatened. And Stefan…

Whatever else was between the Salvatore brothers, bonds of hatred or fate or betrayal, the visceral and primal bond of true and real love for each other was paramount. Stefan was one righteously pissed off brother and these bastards were going to pay for hurting Damon.

Stefan's face had turned to his vampire appearance and, though he wasn't eating the humans present, Alaric was damn sure they would have preferred it to what Stefan was actually likely to do to them. Stefan had growled out a, _'Find Damon'_, before the slaughter, but Alaric was already off and running.

"Damon? Damon, hey!" Alaric grabbed the vampire's face, forcing his lolling head to still and look at him. Damon's eyes were barely open and not focusing well. The edges of the stone floor around Damon were wet with fresh blood, deep lash marks on his back still bleeding. In fact, Alaric could see no wounds that were healed. Some looked like they had attempted to close, but hadn't quite made it.

"Shit!" This was bad. Bad, bad, bad. Sparing only a moment to think of the irony of being concerned that a dead man might be dying, Alaric ran his knuckles down Damon's ribcage roughly in an effort to rouse him.

Nothing.

Huffing out a breath and quickly making sure that his ring was securely on, Alaric cut his arm. Hissing, he brought it to Damon's mouth. Still, the man didn't move. Brow furrowed, Alaric placed his other hand behind Damon's head, tilting him up and pressing his arm more forcefully against blueish lips.

"Damon, come on, dammit! What's wrong with you?"

Blue eyes rolled up sluggishly, locked on the teacher's face, and Alaric froze.

There was nothing there. Nothing of Damon in those blue depths. Breathing picking up, Alaric ground his arm against the vamp's closed mouth.

"No. Damon, you have to. I've got my ring. You have to. Come on. Work with me here. Please!" he refused to acknowledge that he was pleading.

A few moments of silence as they just stared at each other. Something sad and breakable in the injured man's eyes that Alaric had only ever glimpsed before. Damon managed a small smirk, resigned, apologetic, and tired. Everything that Damon Salvatore was not. His eyes slipped closed and he went completely limp.

Alaric wasn't sure, but he thought his own heart might have stopped.

"No."

Laying the unconscious vampire flat again, bloody fingers pressed open Damon's mouth. He bled into him, stroking his throat to make him swallow.

"Come on, come on…"

Force-feeding a vamp his own blood had never been on Alaric's to do list, but this…he couldn't let Damon go. Something inside him simply forbid it.

He kept that up, filling Damon's mouth with blood, forcing him to swallow, and praying it would be enough. He kept going until a hand laid on his shoulder. He looked up to see Elena smiling weakly at him, tears in her eyes.

Looking back, Stefan had appeared on Damon's other side, looking at his brother with a worried frenzy to him that Alaric had only seen in him when Elena was in trouble.

"He wouldn't drink." Alaric blurted out. "He just looked at me. He wouldn't drink."

The alarm in Stefan's eyes made him regret the words. The younger vampire nodded.

"We have to get him out of here."

Alaric found himself already moving to lift the lighter man up, but Stefan stopped him.

"You're too weak." _'From bloodloss'_, he knew how it was meant, but it still struck every sore spot he had. Couldn't protect Isobel, couldn't protect Damon. "And I'm faster."

Stefan got on arm underneath his brother's legs and another behind his back, lifting Damon like it was nothing. The way Damon's head lolled back and his arms dangled down loosely was one of the most terrifying things Alaric had ever seen. And he had seen so much.

It was only a glimpse though, because as soon as Stefan barked at him to get Elena home safely, he was gone, brother in tow.

It happened so quick. Alaric found himself staring at the mess of blood where Damon had been, frozen. He had tried to kill Damon, Damon had tried, and succeeded in killing him, many times before. But the attempts had gone from deadly serious to good natured, albeit usually painful, jests.

Sideways signs of affection.

A voice called his name, snapping him out of his trance. He looked to see Elena over him, asking if he was alright.

"…Yeah." He shook his head to clear it. "Yeah…are you okay? We should go."

Elena's eyes went sad and sympathetic, empathetic; in the strange way that she could relate to having a vampire lover and all the trials and pain that went with it. Damn, she had always been able to read people fairly well and it wasn't like he or Damon hid anything, they just didn't broadcast it.

Finally nodding, Elena helped him up. Shaking off the lightheadedness and sudden panicked surge of _'did he get enough?', 'is he alright?', 'why wouldn't he drink?', 'he couldn't have gotten enough'_, he stood.

They made their way out of the basement that would haunt Alaric's dreams for a long time to come and out to the car.

They said nothing to each other as they drove back to town. To the mansion, to their lives.

And to the two brothers who had become their worlds.


	2. Waiting

A/N: Part 2. Damon and Alaric interaction after the incident. Probably a bit schmoopier than either would ever be, but Damon is a bit off his rocker here and besides, this is my playground. ^_^

I do hope you enjoy. Please Read and Review!

Summary: Weeks later and Alaric and the others don't know if Damon's really getting any better. Unstable!Damon and some Alaric/Damon slashness, though nothing graphic.

**These Wounds- part 2**

"Damon?"

Alaric approached the vampire warily. Damon wasn't moving, didn't even seem to be breathing. He just sat, cross-legged on the floor like a child, staring at the wall, but not really seeing it.

Every emotion in the teacher that was, and always would be, a bit afraid to put a name to, told him to run to Damon. Save him, help him. But the molecule of logic still functioning told him that he was no good to Damon dead, no matter how temporarily. Anything could happen to the vamp while he was out.

Damon had been…absent, was the easiest word for Ric's mind to give it, for weeks now. Unstable and dangerous on his best days, Damon was close to something feral now.

But Alaric still edged closer. Slowly, slowly, closer, palms up to seem as unthreatening as possible and repeatedly, softly calling his name.

The vampire hardly spoke a word since he, Stefan, and Elena had gotten him away from those whack-jobs and their bloodstained basement. He still wouldn't feed, having to be held still by either Stefan or Alaric as the other threaded the tube from a blood bag down his throat.

It was sickening and wrong and Alaric hated himself for it, but he found himself looking forward to the weak choking noises Damon made when they did that. He missed that voice and wanted to hear it, even if it broke his heart.

Damon showed no inclination to leave the mansion, to do anything really. He'd follow simple instructions sometimes, would let Stefan or Alaric, sometimes even Elena, guide him about with a gentle touch or a few soft words.

No interaction with Damon had ever been gentle or soft. You had to be rough with him, had to be brutal and unafraid to get the vamp to listen, to take an interest in anything you had to say. It wasn't until after Damon had staked Alaric, watched him die, and then killed vampires with him the next week that Damon had really warmed up, in his way, to the man.

Gentle with Damon, weak with Damon, was usually what ended up getting you killed.

But that was all they could be with Da- with this _new_ Damon.

Desperate, Stefan had tried to incite his brother to a fight. He screamed, derided, and hit; Elena watching fearfully, hopefully, while Alaric clenched his fists so tight, blood welled in his palms. Finally, Stefan, in all out vamp mode had slammed Damon against a wall, holding him there and breathing heavily.

No one made a sound and Damon's head remained turned downward, dangling like it was too much work to hold it up. Stefan's shoulders slumped in defeat and he pulled back from Damon. He snapped forward just as quickly when it was clear Damon wasn't going to support his own weight. He guided his brother to the ground none too gently, frustration rolling off him in waves.

Alaric was moving before he knew it, intent on hitting Stefan, fighting him, demanding to know how he could go so far with Damon like this. Stefan turning around was what curbed Alaric's bloodlust. His eyes were red in a way that was all too human, tears on his cheeks.

They all stood bereft a moment, no one knowing what to do. Seconds passed and Elena approached Stefan. Wrapping their arms around each other, he cried silently into her shoulder. She hushed him, though tears shone in her eyes as well.

Dismissing them, Alaric knelt next to Damon with not a clue of what to do. He sat on the ground, pushing Damon's hair out of his eyes and telling himself that this was nothing to cry over. That Damon would be fine.

But knowing it was a lie.

Now within three feet, Alaric was reaching out his hand.

"Da-"

Pain exploded along his back as he was thrown to the ground and held there. Damon's eyes were wild, staring directly into Alaric's. He surprised himself with how unafraid he was. Still, he kept his hands where they had splayed beside his head, palms up as he searched for something, anything in the vampire's eyes to confirm that Damon was still in there. That he just had to get to him.

Minutes passed in silence until Damon finally spoke. His voice thin and gravely from disuse.

"Everyone…betrays me…everyone…" The manic look hadn't left, but Damon's eyes were shifting, beginning to see through Alaric again instead of looking at him. Voice becoming softer, as though he was only speaking to himself, Damon kept on. "Everyone…"

Head too filled with the desperation to not lose this chance, Alaric reached up, placing one hand against Damon's cheek.

"I haven't."

Stone still, he waited. Damon's eyes met his just briefly. Alaric stroked his thumb over Damon's cheek, hoping that when he got better, the sarcastic vampire would let this show of affection and concern go unharassed.

Slowly, the vamp lost eye contact as he leant his head down so that his forehead was resting on the teacher's chest, near his shoulder. He resumed muttering.

"Not good enough…"

'_This isn't you, Damon. This isn't you.'_ Alaric wanted to tell him, but stopped. Because maybe this really was some part of Damon. The part that still felt as deeply, more deeply, than a human and had to be disguised and guarded at all costs because of the pain that had been inflicted before.

"Never me…no one ever chooses…wants me…"

For all his stumbling about in unfamiliar territory, Alaric knew the answer to that. He wrapped his arms around Damon's back and ran a hand through midnight black hair soothingly.

"I do."

Still no words or movement, but Alaric felt Damon start shaking in his hold, the vampire's fingers curling into his jacket harshly. And Alaric doesn't whisper reassurances or encouragement because that's stupid and deceitful.

But he doesn't let go either.


End file.
